Fiber treatment



Mgrch 1% 1940. s, GULBRANDSEN 2,194,084

FIBER TREATMENT Filed June 11, 192,7

Y INVENTOR.

Sverre 6 ulbr'andsen ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 19,1940

PAT'ENT' oFFies FIBER TREATMENT Sverre Gulbrandsen, Gloucester, N. .L, assignor to New Process Rayon, Inc., Gloucester, N. 1.,

a corporation of Delaware Application June 11, 1937, Serial No. 147,607

-1 Olaim.. (01. 8-151) The present invention relates in general to apparatus and method for the bath treatment of v textile material, and in particular to apparatus and method for the bath treatment of relatively .5 high denier, continuous filament, rayon roving. I

The chief objects of the invention are the provision of an apparatus and method forthorough bath treatment such as chemical treatment, washing, soaping, etc., the saving of time in such 10 treatments, and the saving of space occupied by the necessary apparatus. ,Other'objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a perusal of the following specification and the drawing accompanying the 15 same. i

In the drawing: Fig. l is a side view showing the apparatus arrangement submerged in a treating bath.

Fig. 2 is a similar view on a small scale illus- 20 trating a modified method of operation.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the relative skew arrangement of the rollers.

Referring to the drawing in detail and first to Fig, l which is diagrammatic of the cooperative relation of the apparatus elements, I and l I are representative of a pair of upper and lower guide rolls arranged to guide a roving l2 of the material to be treated on to and several times around the rolls while submerged in a suitable treating bath 30 I3, the rolls [0 and II being arranged slightly askew relative to each other or canted, in well- .known manner to effect a feeding of the roving axially along the rolls as indicated in Fig. 3 where the canting is shown considerably exaggerated 35 for the sake of clearness.

The lower roll II is completely submerged in the bath l3 while the upper roll i0 is submerged sufficiently to maintain the roving within the bath where it leads and enters upon the roll in its 40 movement through'the bath. i

Intermediate between the upper and lower rolls are pairs of squeeze-rolls "-15 .and lB-l'l arranged to receive the roving l2 in wringer-like operative engagement therewith as shown for 5 squeezing the filaments of the roving together of the roving through the during the passing i2 is moved or propelled bath. The roving through the bath preferably by driving the upper roll I0, traction between the squeeze-rolls and the 50 roving being prevented by driving one or both of said rolls with a peripheral velocity equal to'or substantially equal to that of the roving and in the same direction as the roving. As one way of driving the squeeze-rolls and driving roll ill at 55 the same peripheral velocity, the squeeze-rolls may derivetheir motion from the feed roll ill through a suitable idler gear.

In operation, with the apparatus elements arranged as shown and a continuous roving loaded on to the rolls for movementinto, through and 5 out of the bath as indicated by the arrows adja- -cent.to the roving, rotation of the roll ill will cause the roving to move continuously through the bath several times around the rolls and then out of the bath, passing between the squeezerolls in both its downward and upward drive between the top and bottom rolls. During its passage through the squeeze rolls, the filaments of the roving will be squeezed together driving out the bath solution from between the filaments and 16 will be released again upon'movement of the roving out of engagement with the squeeze rolls to permit re-entrance of the bath between the filaments of the roving. It will thus be clear that this repeated squeezing togetherand releasing of 20 the filaments during the passage of the roving through the bath results in. an acceleration of the interchange of contact between the filaments and the bath whereby thetime required for a given amount of interchange or bath treatment is greatly reduced over that which would be required were the roving simply moved through the bath without such repeated squeezing and releasing of the filaments. Inasmuch as it is preferable to drive the squeeze-rolls in order to prevent relative movement between them and the roving it is possible, and may in some cases be preferable to use the squeeze-rolls as the means for propelling the roving through the bath, in which case the rolls l0 may be driven from the squeeze-rolls either through the gear l8 or by frictional engagement of the roving I2 therewith.

To further accelerate the rate of interchange of contact between the bath and the filaments, the roving may be loaded onto the rolls in and II and through the squeeze-rolls with a slight tension between the points where the roving leaves one of the main rolls and passes between a pair of the squeeze-rolls, and to leave considerable slack between the points where the roving leaves a pair ,of the squeeze-rolls and contacts with one of the main rolls, as shown in Fig. 2. Once this arrangement of relative slight tension and ample slack is established, with the various rolls positively, driven at substantially equal peripheral velocity, such condition will be maintained indefinitely. One way of establishing such condition is to first load the roving onto the rolls in any known or other suitable manner as by drawing it through on the end of a pilot tape or rope, and after the loading is completed, to drive the squeeze-rolls a little faster than the main rolls I0 and II for a brief period of time or to rotate the squeezerolls a slight amount with the main or guide rolls l0 and II held stationary. It is to be understood, of course, that at any point the tension is very slight and need only be sufficient to effect a guiding of the roving around the main rolls l0 and l I. However, this very slight tension is sufiicient to keep the filaments of the roving in substantial parallelism and sufiiciently free of each other to permit flow of the bath solution therebetween, While the positive feed or propulsion of the roving toward the main rolls l0 and l I will tend to maintain any previously established slack between th esqueeze-rolls and the main roll in the direction of movement of the roving, permitting the individual filaments of the roving to spread apart with considerable freedom of lateral motion as they are moved through the bath toward the main rolls.

While the invention herein disclosed finds its greatest usefulness in the continuous submerged bath treatment of relatively high denier, continuous filament rayon yarns or roving, with little or no twist, it will be clear that an application of the present invention will be very useful in the treatment of any kind of textile material in the form of a continuous roving or yarn even though slightly twisted, and makes for the advantage of increased efliciency of treatment with reduction of time required and a saving of space.

While I have thus shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention and a specific mode of carrying out the method involved, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to such examples of application of the invention but contemplates all such modifications and variations thereof as fall fairly within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

The method of bath treating a relatively high denier, continuous-filament, rayon roving which comprises, while moving the roving through a bath, subjecting successive portions of the roving to a slight tension sufiicient to bring the filaments in said successive portions into substantial SVERRE GULBRANDSEN. 

